2 years ago
There’s nothing worse than a delayed Northern Line on a morning commute. For a second, imagine if that was never a reality… We can dream.
All the way back in post-war London, the Northern Line had big plans to be a little faster than it’s ‘relaxed’ pace that we know (and love… right?) today.
During WWII, eight bunkers were built under London to keep people safe from the bombings overhead. Many of these were located in the SW; Clapham South, Common and North as well as Stockwell and Oval all have huge spaces underneath them. The spaces are wider than the conventional tube tunnels of the majority of today’s lines, built over two levels and could hold up to 8,000 people at a time.
The depth of the shelters meant that they would have been perfect to act as a new ‘Expressway’ below the already existing Northern Line. This line would have meant extra speedy journeys between certain Northern Line stations- a modern day commuters dream!
Sadly for the morning rushers of today, a few of the bunkers ended up flooding and the demands of a lot more money to make the project a success meant it never came to fruition. But for a second we can dream about what our commute could have been.
